Wireless Watch

Satellite, WiFi and cellular players battle over US midband spectrum

As the deadline for comments on the FCC’s midband spectrum consultation came, the US debate about these important airwaves heated up. An unprecedented variety of stakeholders and would-be operators is eyeing spectrum between 3.5 GHz and 6 GHz, but with very different agendas. The regulator aims to get better use out of a portion of the C Band spectrum from 3.7 GHz to 4.2 GHz. Some players want a similar shared structure to the three-tiered CBRS scheme, proposed for the nearby 3.5 GHz band, to be expanded up to 4.2 GHz. This protects federal incumbents while supporting a licensed, priority access layer and an unlicensed, general access approach. Others are opposed to the whole idea of opening the 3.7-4.2 GHz…